Shanghai led other Chinese cities in economic restructuring as it came out top in a survey ranking their speed of transformation, innovation capability and social harmony.

Shanghai's Economic Restructuring Index stood at 78.1 last year, up 4.6 points from that in 2010 and against the national average of 44.5, according to a survey compiled by the Shanghai Applied Statistics Research Center and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics that was released yesterday.

Beijing was second in the ranking with a small gap of 0.5 point from Shanghai's. It was followed by Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

"Shanghai is strong in the speed of economic transformation," said Xu Guoxiang, a professor at the university.

"Compared with 2010, the city's services sector gains a heavier weight and consumption contributes more to the city's growth, which demonstrate faster restructuring and better development," Xu said.

The components showed that the index on Shanghai's speed of economic transformation rose to 84.5 last year, the highest among all cities. The index on innovation capability added 7.3 points to 70.3, and social harmony came in at 76.9.

"Shanghai is strong in overall competitiveness despite its growth rate being slower than many other cities," said Qin Liping, director of the Shanghai Applied Statistics Research Center, a unit under the Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

"With Shanghai's increased efforts on innovation, such as the construction of the pilot free trade zone, it is expected to become a more competitive city in terms of economic restructuring strength," Qin said.

Shanghai's economy rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter of this year, up from 7.6 percent in the second three months.

The city generated a total economic output of 1.55 trillion yuan (US$252 billion) in the first nine months, up 7.7 percent on-year and above its annual target of 7.5 percent.